


Fool's Gold Saucer

by Masu_Trout



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Trying to Use Your Friend's Incredible Supernatural Powers for Profit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:54:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23841826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masu_Trout/pseuds/Masu_Trout
Summary: Stealing from one too-trusting civilian is the easiest job Yuffie will ever pull.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough & Yuffie Kisaragi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17
Collections: What Fen Do (Instead of Going Outside), When Death Loves Flamingos





	Fool's Gold Saucer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Resilur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Resilur/gifts).



"Aerith," Yuffie said, "you told me you could do this. I'm counting on you."

Yuffie's whole being was focused on the battle before her. Her palms were slick and cold with sweat. Her eyes watered from the force of her desperate stare. A split second of lost concentration would mean the end.

At Yuffie's side, Aerith clasped her hands together. There was something ethereal about her in this moment, a hint of some vast depth far beyond the cheerful face she let the world see. The honest-to-a-fault flower merchant had disappeared and standing in her place was a woman Yuffie didn't know.

Yuffie didn't believe in her father's gods. Any deities who gave that sadsack of a man the power to call himself emperor clearly didn't deserve to be worshiped. Sometimes, though, in the middle of a fight like this, she thought she could sense _something_ out there.

Finally, Aerith's eyes opened. "Mid-body attack."

Yuffie's thumb hovered over the machine's buttons, watching as the holographic version of herself faced off against the blurry image of a caped and cowled man. The sights and sounds of the Gold Saucer blared around them, but the great ninja of Wutai was beyond any distraction. 

"You're absolutely sure?" Yuffie frowned at the digital figures. "I've got a 300 GP payout coming if I win this."

"I've asked the Ancients. The signs don't lie. Don't you trust me?"

Fair enough. In a group full of terrorists and mercenaries and the castoffs of society, Aerith was probably the only one of them who wouldn't be able to lie at the drop of a hat. Combine that with her ability to predict the outcomes of games of chance—a fun little fact she'd volunteered cheerfully to Yuffie without so much as realizing how _valuable_ it was—made her a truly unique person.

(And, of course, an amazing source of free money. That was always the most important thing.)

"Here goes," Yuffie said, slamming down the square button on the console.

Her holographic self lashed out—

The machine's AI retaliated—

And Yuffie's avatar fell to the ground, soundly defeated. It faded away in a burst of light and static as Yuffie gaped in horror.

_Received 30 GP!_ the 3D Battlers console chirped happily.

30 GP. A consolation prize. _Pathetic_.

Yuffie spun around, the loss slowly sinking in. "What was that?"

"How strange." Aerith pressed one hand to the side of her face, mouth twisted into a frown too puzzled to be real. "I suppose long-dead spirits don't care that much about arcade machines after all. Silly me."

"But you said—"

"Yuffie." Aerith broke into a devastatingly beautiful—and just as devastatingly insincere—smile. "You know you shouldn't believe everything people tell you, right? Who knows what kind of tricks scoundrels out there might play in order to steal away your gil?"

Yuffie's mouth dropped open. If Leviathan itself had crashed through the arcade wall to bring a tidal wave down on her head, she would have been less shocked. "Are you kidding me? Is… is this _revenge_?"

"Revenge is wrong—all it ever leads to is more and more suffering." She made a small noise of realization, tapping a finger against the corner of her mouth. "It's just as wrong as stealing all of a hard-working woman's pocket money in order to play games at the Wonder Square, now that I think about it."

_No way,_ Yuffie thought, dazed. This couldn't be happening. She couldn't have been swindled by—by _Aerith_ , a woman so goody-two-shoes she brought the extra gil back to merchants who undercharged her.

And yet. There she was, standing in front of Yuffie, grinning in a way that suddenly looked much less innocent and much more knowing.

"You—you cheat!" Yuffie dashed at Aerith, throwing subtlety aside in her haze of embarrassment. 

She was _the_ thief of Wutai, the greatest ninja her people had ever seen, and she'd been tricked by a woman who sold wildflowers for pocket change.

Aerith just laughed as she dodged the grab. "It's the machine that's got your money, not me. But maybe we could play a game—I'll repay you if you can find me. How's that sound?"

Without even waiting for an answer, Aerith dashed out the entrance to the Wonder Square and disappeared into the tight-packed crowd that was always swarming the Gold Saucer. 

"Oh," Yuffie said, "you do _not_ know who you're dealing with."

She leapt out the door in hot pursuit, doing everything she could to keep track of the brief flashes of Aerith's form she caught through the masses of people.

Despite her… temporary setback (not a _loss_ , never a loss), she could feel a smile pulling at her face. There was something wonderful about being surprised. And Yuffie had been trained to move quickly, to spot even the most insignificant of details; she'd have her money back in no time at all. 

After all, how hard could it be to find one pink-clad woman in a crowd like this?

(Three hours later, doubled over in exhaustion in front of the Wonder Square, she realized: _extremely_.)


End file.
